Author's Note: A short, quick message to those for reviewed!
RxRFannn: Haha, don't worry we're getting there. Be patient. Yeah, I know Raven is a little OOC too.
crazynred: Then your sister don't know you well enough to know that she has a genius sibling, eh? *wink*
CHAPTER 3: Confusions
There are three things I realised after stepping out of the bathroom:
First, Dr. Ken was the evil doctor who injected drugs into my body to put me to sleep. The moment I set my eyes on him, the urge to strangle him immediately took over my body. The urge was so strong that I had to take a couple of deep breaths to keep my emotions in control.
Second, his assistant turns out to be the nurse who grabbed my arm earlier and later pinned me onto my bed. An evil doctor with his evil assistant. It figures. I am willing bet my money that these two are probably even lovers. Or worse, they might spend every minute here cheating behind their lovers' back. Okay, forget it. I'm just being paranoid.
Third, Dr. "Evil" Ken wasn't lying when he said that he, his assistant and "my mother" were the only one in the room which is good because if he lied, I would tackle him to the ground and kill him right then and there.
Right now, I am totally calm. Sitting on my bed, legs pulled close to my chest with my chin resting on my knees and a hot cup of herbal teas I just requested in my hands while three pairs of eyes are staring at me, never taking their eyes away from me.
Yup, I am to-ta-lly calm.
"Alright then," Dr. Ken begins, adjusting his glasses before placing his hands on his laps, like a 'professional'.
"Um, how am I going to say this…" Oh God. I have a million questions swimming around in my head and I don't even know how to begin. How in the world am I going to explain this without sounding like a crazy mental patient?
"I-I-I- uh-" the three of them are looking into my eyes, waiting. I shift uncomfortably on my bed and take another sip of from my cup of tea. I really hope they will stop staring at me like that. "Just say it and get over with it!" my brain screams at me.
"Okay, this is going to sound really crazy," I finally say. The three of them give me a 'go on' look. "I'm not who you think I am. I- uh, I don't know how it happen but when I woke up, I realised I wasn't in my own body. This body-" I gesture towards my body with my hand, "-doesn't belong to me."
Avoiding their confused gaze, I continue, "So, um… I would like to know what exactly happen-"
'Then do you remember who you really are? Do you still remember your name?" Dr. Ken cuts in.
"Raven," I say confidently. "My name is Raven."
There's a loud gasp and I turn to see my 'mother', sitting on the chair beside me. She is giving me this horrifying look as though trying to say, "That's impossible! That's not your name! Your name is Lee! Don't you remember?"
"Wait, are you saying you're actually…a girl?" the doctor asks incredulously.
"Exactly." Another loud gasp. I ignore it.
"Well, this is… new," he says, frowning. "Okay, tell me what do you remember about yourself?"
I notice his assistant brings out a pen and a note pad and gives me a nod, telling me to speak. "The last time I remember I was 16. I am one of the Teen Titans fighting crime along side with my best friends: Robin, Starfire, Beast Boy and Cyborg. In fact, if I remember it right, we saved Tokyo City once and-"
A loud sob escapes from my 'mother's' lips and I can't help glaring at her only to find her staring at me, tears flowing like an unstoppable fountain, giving me an Oh-my-God-my-son-is-a-goner look. Even Dr. Ken and his assistant are exchanging glances.
"Wow, this looks…" he pauses, trying to find the right word to describe the situation, "…serious."
"It is serious!" the sobbing mother cuts in before I can say anything. "He doesn't remember anything! He thinks he's some American female superhero named Raven, for crying out loud!"
That's it. I have had it! "Excuse me? I did not lose my mind! I remember everything clearly! Well, not exactly everything because I'm not really sure how I end up here but what I do remember is that my mother looks nothing like you!"
I guess that was really the last straw because next thing I know, she buries her face into my blanket and starts crying. The assistant quickly walks to her side and starts patting her on the back while Dr. Ken gives me a disapproving look. I can't help rolling my eyes. God, are mothers this weepy?
"Look, that's not even the point!" I say, losing my patience. "What I want to know right now is how the hell did I end up here?"
There's silence except for the muffled cry from my blanket. The silence seems to go on forever. I can see the doctor's brow knotted together. He's probably thinking about how to break the news to me. I take a few sips from my cup as the time ticks by.
"You really don't remember anything?" he asks, finally breaking the unbearable silence.
'I do remember," I snap at him, "I remember everything as Raven, not as whoever this Lee person is. And you haven't answered my question yet." I add as a reminder.
Dr. Ken shifts uncomfortably on his chair, "Well, if you're sure you are Raven…"
"I am Raven!"
"As to your question, to how you end up here as Raven, I am not entirely sure," he says rather nervously, unlocking and locking his fingers from time to time. "But to how you end up here as Lee, that is a completely different story."
"Tell me," I lean closer, looking straight into his eyes.
"You were performing on stage for the first leg of your tour in Japan. The performance was going really well until you lean forward on the stage to touch the hands of your screaming fans."
"Then?" I urge him to go on.
"That was when one of your fans smashed your head with a hammer." A loud cry from the weeping mother drowns his sentence as though she is reminiscing the horrible incident.
"A hammer?" I almost choked on my tea. Wow, that is scary. For someone to hit you with a hammer in public, you must have done something really bad for him or her to want to kill you.
"Yes, it happened so suddenly," Dr. Ken shakes his head with his eyes closed. "You got hit in the head really hard. The sudden attack left a slight crack on your skull and a lot of blood was lost in the process. In fact, you almost didn't survive. Luckily, the operation was successful."
I press my back against the pillow, trying to process everything he has just told me. Then, it suddenly hit me. All the pieces are finally coming together. If I am Lee, the voice I heard when I was in a coma whom I assumed belongs to some boy's mother is actually my mother's, or more specifically Lee's mother's. The boy in the coma for two freaking months was me. ME!
And let's not forget the crazy sea of screaming fans I saw from my room hours ago.
My mind flashes back to the huge "Get Well Soon" posters floating among the fans. Those were actually made for me (actually it's for Lee but considering that I am in his body now, so…). Every single one of them was waiting anxiously for my recovery. Such loyal and dedicated fans. I wonder whether they would put in the same effort if their parents were in Lee's position. Too bad, Lee is not around to appreciate this.
I sigh. But still, that doesn't explain how I got stuck in his body.
"Then you don't know how I end up here, in this body?" I ask, sounding hopeful.
Instead of waiting for Dr. Ken's answer, my 'mother' jerks her head up from the blanket so suddenly I almost drop my cup of tea in the process. She peers at me through her tears filled eyes. Avoiding her gaze, I press the cup to my lips only to realise there's not a single drop of tea left in my cup.
"You are really not Lee, are you?" she asks so softly that I can barely hear her.
"Yes, I'm sorry but it's true," I say, my voice surprisingly calm.
"I believe you," she wipes her tears away with the sleeve of her blouse. I stare at her, speechless. Even the doctor and assistant are equally gobsmack.
"E-Excuse me?"
"I said I believe you," she says firmly.
"I thought a moment ago you said I have 'lost my mind'?"
"I did," she agrees showing no sign of denying. "But something makes me realise that you're not Lee."
Curiosity takes over me. I place my empty cup on the table side before asking, "May I know what that is?"
"You speak English."
That's it? Me speaking English make me Raven and not Lee? Noticing my confused gaze, she explains, "Lee never speaks in English. He doesn't know how. He never even bothers to learn. The only language he is familiar with is Japanese."
Dr. Ken and his assistant mouth form the shape of a perfect "O" and go, "Ooh, I see…" while I just sit there, too shocked for words. Lee doesn't speak English? It's such a common language that even Starfire can master (well, almost). If an alien of Tameran can talk English, what makes a famous singer unable to do so?
At least that saves me from explaining the difference from me and Lee.
"But you- you- the hug- crying- so convinced that I'm your son- and-" I stammer, suddenly unable to form a proper sentence and sounding like a moron in the process.
"Yes, for a moment, I was really convinced that you're my son and that you actually do remember me," she nods sadly, trying to hold back her tears. Suddenly, I feel a horrible pang in my stomach, remembering all the mean things I said to her upon losing my temper. "I was unable to accept that you've completely changed into another person. But the more you talked, the more I realised that you're…not Lee…"
As though my hands have a mind of its own, they reach out and cup her shaking palms. "I-I'm truly very sorry," I say, looking at her sympatically. "If it's possible, I wished that Lee would be the one here, in his own body instead of…me."
In fact, I really meant what I said. I would give anything to be back in my body right now. Yet, it's still frustrating that I still don't know how I end up in Lee's body.
Could it be some operations the doctors carried out? But Dr. Ken seems equally confused about this problem. Come to think of it, if I am in Lee's body, then where the hell is the real Lee?
As though he is reading my mind, Dr. Ken asks, "If you're not Lee, then do you think, maybe the real Lee might be stuck in your body?"
"That's what I've been asking myself too," I admit.
"However," he finally walk towards me, "You still need to rest. After all you've just recovered."
Immediately, I become defensive, "Hey! What happen to swearing about not putting me to sleep?"
"You do know that sleeping is not the only form of resting," he informs me with a raised eyebrow. I immediately stare at my hands, face burning with embarrassment. All this mess is making me dumber by the minute.
He reaches for the wirings connected to the heart monitor, "If it's all right, I advice that you don't remove these wirings at all cost." He sticks the wirings to my body parts and sure enough, the heart monitor springs back to life.
Beep. Beep. Beep.
"I suggest we all leave Raven to rest now," Dr. Ken continues, a tone of uncertainty when he says my name. "While you," he addresses me, "take as much rest as possible."
Rest? Ha, easy for him to say. How can I rest without knowing what the hell happened to me? How in the world did I end up in some guy's body who happened to be a bloody famous singer in Japan? We are not even connected in some ways. So why? Giving Lee's mother a last pat on the arm and a sad smile, the three of them walk away from my bed.
Before walking out of the door, Dr. Ken stops and looks at me with kind eyes, "If there's anything you need, you may reach us using the phone by your bedside."
Phone? My attention shifts to the phone he is referring to. The peach coloured phone is just like any other ordinary phone except for a few extra buttons such as: "Emergency", "Redial" and "Room Service" (Wow, hospitals even provide room service?).
Suddenly, the light bulb in my brain lit up. I turn my head towards the door where Dr. Ken is still standing by with a hand on the door knob. "I, um, can this phone make any phone calls to America? I need to phone someone."
"Of course as long as you don't plan to phone the police," he laughs at his own joke.
I manage a weak laugh out of kindness, "No, no. Of course not. I mean, why should I?"
"Haha, I don't know. Maybe. Maybe not."
Before I can ask further, he closes the door lightly, leaving me alone with my thoughts.
Summary for Chapter 4: Raven's mess may be far from being solved unless she can manage to convince her friends about the complications she is in now.
Author's Note: Firstly, I have to apologize for the late update. This is one of the toughest chapter I have ever written. I've been writing, erasing and rewriting over and over again just to get the whole thing right. From which question should go first to which answer is the most suitable to each question. It's been no piece of cake.
I wouldn't say this is my best chapter either. Either way, I hope you guys still enjoy reading it as much as I enjoy writing it. Thanks for reviewing and adding my story to your alerts and favourites and I hope you'll continue doing the same for this chapter.
LOVE YOU GUYS! xoxo